William R. Cowley was a lad of about eight years when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to the United States, in 1851, and the family home was established at Hudson, Ohio, in which state he was reared and educated. Prior to attaining to his legal majority he established his residence in Iowa, and in 1871, about three years after his marriage, he removed thence to Kansas and established his residence at Columbus, where soon afterward he entered the legal profession and engaged in active practice, in which he there continued, as one of the leading lawyers and highly honored citizens of Cherokee County, until the time of his death, which occurred on the 13th of July, 1914. He served for thirty-two years as general attorney for the Log-Bell Lumber Company, a large and important corporation. Prior to engaging in the practice of law he had been ordained a clergyman in the Christian Church, and he continued one of its active and zealous members until the close of his long and useful life. His widow, who continued to reside at Columbus until her death, December 30, 1915, was likewise a devoted adherent of this church. Mr. Cowley was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he first served as a member of the Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later as a member of the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His service covered a period of about three years, he was promoted to the office of sergeant and he took part in numerous engagements marking the progress of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was preserved, a prominent part of his military career having been that in which his regiment accompanied General Sherman on the ever memorable march from Atlanta to the sea. He was an effective and stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the republican party and was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. Of the six children the eldest is William Frederick, who is engaged in farming and stock raising in Southeastern Kansas; Minnie is the wife of Charles S. Huffman, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of his profession at Columbus, Kansas; Clement Sidney died in childhood, as did also Anna B.; Laurence L., was the next in order of birth; and Clare J. holds a responsible position in the general offices of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, at Kansas City, Missouri.
SOURCE: Joseph Bradfield Thoburn, A Standard History Of Oklahoma, Volume 5, p. 1771, abstracted from the biographical sketch of Laurence L. Cowley.
